Statement on Failure of 'Supercommittee' to Reach Agreement

Statement

Today the members of the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction, also known as the "Super Committee" announced that they were unable to reach an agreement on reducing the deficit as required by the Budget Control Act of 2011.

"It's tragic that once again Democratic attempts at compromise were foiled by Republican intransigence on raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans, "said Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard. "Republicans refused to consider a balanced approach of increased revenue and spending reductions, insisting on cuts to programs like Medicare and Medicaid. We cannot get our fiscal house in order by placing the burden solely on the backs of America's middle class, poor, elderly and disabled."

The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction was a joint select committee of the United States Congress, created by the Budget Control Act of 2011 on August 2, 2011. It was composed of 6 Republicans and 6 Democrats from the House of Representatives and the Senate and was tasked with finding $1.2 trillion in savings. Since the super committee failed, those savings will still occur in a process called "sequestration" which will cut $1.2 trillion from discretionary and mandatory accounts across the entire budget starting in fiscal year 2013.

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